Steph Bennion - Paw-Prints of the Gods

Ravana grimaced. The decapitated corpse slid onwards and she leapt away with a shriek. The arachnid was clad in what looked like armour, similar to that of the dead spider once embedded in the floor. Lilith ran to the arch and beckoned wildly to the robot sentry.

“Battlebot! Release the prisoners and defend our retreat!” she cried, then turned to the frightened onlookers in the archway. “Everyone, run for your lives!”

A tremor shook the chamber and with a loud groan all twelve of the rods promptly stopped dead. A split second later, a cascade of monster spiders fell through the gaps amidst a flurry of legs and surged towards a terrified Ravana and companions. The floodlights cast gigantic scuttling shadows upon the glistening walls and shone upon a galaxy of glinting eyes. The macabre chattering of mandibles was deafening.

“Run!” Kedesh cried to Ravana. “Get the hell out of here!”

Lilith was already dragging a dazed Dagan away. Ravana stuffed the green globe into a pocket, grabbed Artorius and dashed towards the screaming voices at the arch. Quirinus and Kedesh began to fire upon the advancing horde and the loud retort of plasma fire echoed around the chamber. The military android joined the fray and with rapid rifle fire decapitated three arachnids in a matter of seconds. The advance of the spiders barely slowed.

Ahead, Ininna and Yima were frantically urging the panic-stricken Xuthus, Urania and scarlet-haired Hestia away into the tunnels, closely followed by the more resolute Philyra and Fornax. Ravana found Govannon waiting for her beyond the arch, where she wasted no time bundling Artorius into his arms before scooting across the passageway to collect the plasma cannon. The cricket bat was nearby but her slate was nowhere to be seen.

“Get him to safety,” Ravana urged Govannon. She hefted the cannon to her shoulder, thumbed the power switch and smiled grimly as the implant-controlled targeting cross-hairs appeared in her virtual eye line. “Philyra can lead you back to our ship.”

“Spiders!” wailed Artorius. “They took Stripy and Nana!”

“Don’t dawdle,” urged Govannon. “We’ve already lost one archaeologist on this trip.”

Despite everything, Ravana grinned. “You call this archaeology?”

Govannon gave a wry smile, hoisted Artorius onto his back and with a hand on his hat slipped away into the flickering green light of the tunnel. Lilith and a terror-stricken Dagan hurried after them, leaving Quirinus, Kedesh and the android still shooting at the skittering spiders. Ravana ran back into the chamber and lined up the cannon to take a shot at a cluster of arachnids near the three twitching bundles of silk. The creatures were relentless, yet there was something about their advance that reminded her of holovid news footage of street battles between royalists and Que Qiao back on her native Yuanshi. Around thirty arachnids had come through the portal and barely a quarter had fallen to gunfire.

“Ravana!” yelled Quirinus. “Get back!”

“Knock them for six!” cried Kedesh.

Ravana fired. A streak of white light leapt across the chamber and suddenly the air was thick with smoke and chunks of black flesh. She looked for a new target and saw a large spider at one of the rods, prodding its mouth parts against the faint indentations that had last seen Stripy’s nimble fingers. Another tremor struck the chamber, then the rods jolted back into life and started to circle the central dark pool once more.

“They’re reopening the portal!” cried Ravana.

“There’s more on the way?” Her father’s face was a picture of dismay.

Ravana, Quirinus and Kedesh looked at one another, turned and raced for the archway. They had barely entered the labyrinth when the staccato rifle retorts from the android back in the chamber fell ominously silent. The echoes of their pounding footsteps were soon joined by the eerie chatter of mandibles and scuffle of feet that quickly grew louder. Ravana risked a glance over her shoulder and to her horror saw the first of the pursuing spiders barely ten metres behind. She paused, aimed the cannon and fired her last remaining plasma bolt at the arachnid’s bulbous head. Her grin upon seeing the resultant smear upon the wall soon faded when three more spiders appeared at the end of the tunnel.

“Ravana!” hissed Quirinus, who had also stopped. “Save the heroics until later!”

He grabbed her aching arm and pulled her forward. The passageway seemed never-ending, made more so by the sound of the scurrying spiders behind. After what seemed an age, they spied the light of the exit and finally scrambled into the trench beyond.

Zotz was waiting in the dome, calling and waving from the entrance of the flexible walkway. Kedesh limped to Ravana’s side, still holding the waste cartridge taken from the cryogenic capsule. She had also found time to grab her cricket bat on the way.

“Jizo made me leave it behind,” Kedesh said sourly. “She was no fan of cricket.”

“This way!” Zotz cried. “Quickly!”

Behind them, the jaws of a spider snapped at the ragged opening in the arch. Quirinus raised a gun, released a barrage of shots into the arachnid’s head and the creature fell to the ground. He shoved the pistols into his belt and reached for his wristpad communicator.

“Momus!” he yelled. “Start the engines!”

Ravana, Quirinus and Kedesh, out of breath after their frantic dash back through the labyrinth, hurried to where Zotz eagerly beckoned them on. The dome’s airtight door was open, beyond which the walkway tunnel curved up to where vacuum clamps held it to the underside of a spacecraft’s curved bow. At the other end, Ravana saw the welcoming sight of the open pod bay door of the Platypus , from which dangled a wire ladder. As Zotz sealed the dome door behind them, a pair of legs appeared at the pod bay hatch. Govannon clambered uneasily down the ladder and dropped into the tunnel ahead.

“What happened to the others?” gasped Quirinus.

“All present and accounted for,” Govannon reported. “The Que Qiao agents made off in their own transport, see? Everyone else is aboard. I’m sorry to say that includes Dagan and the other Dhusarian. It seemed cruel to leave them here.”

“This is Kedesh,” Ravana said, seeing his wary look. “She helped us escape.”

“What happened to the Dhusarians’ transport?” asked Kedesh.

“Momus hooked it up to the road-laying machine and set it off on automatic pilot across the desert,” Zotz replied, grinning.

They became aware of a faint chattering on the other side of the airtight hatch, a sound rapidly followed by the muffled patter of arachnid feet. Ravana put an ear to the door and shivered. Quirinus flipped the timer switches to release the clamps securing the Platypus to the tunnel, then with Ravana quickly followed Govannon, Zotz and Kedesh up the ladder and through the pod bay to the flight deck of the ship. Ravana quickly made for her co-pilot’s seat and ran her fingers across the console, checking flight systems.

“Ship!” Quirinus called, shutting the floor hatch. “Seal the EV pod bay door.”

“I’m already on it,” retorted Momus. He caught Quirinus’ stare and moved to the adjacent seat to leave the pilot’s chair clear. “Ready when you are, captain.”

“Pre-flight checks complete,” intoned the AI. “Life support and flight systems online and functioning normally. Faults remain in the forward…”

“We haven’t got time for that!” snapped Quirinus, taking his chair.

A series of clunks sounded, followed by a thud and the flexible walkway fell away from the ship. Govannon slipped into the crawl tunnel to join his students, huddled together on a bench in the cargo bay, the couch in the carousel having already been commandeered by Fornax, Philyra, Lilith and Dagan. Seeing Zotz take the fourth seat on the flight deck, Kedesh was about to follow Govannon when a movement outside caught her eye.